TV Review: ‘Lucifer: The Good, The Bad, The Crispy’ (Season 2 Finale)

Bringing an end to the Memorial Day weekend was the surprising finale of Lucifer where the world’s most infamously wayward son, his prodigal brother, and vengeful mother try to resolve their differences as it relates to an invasion of the Silver City.

Picking up after Chet’s unfortunate confrontation with Charlotte last week, mamma Morningstar sets about cleaning up the mess while Lucifer and Amenadiel argue about the Flaming Sword and what to do next. Though he’d been all for the initial plan, after reading that he was the favorite son after all, Amenadiel finds himself re-purposed. It’s been a long time coming as well. Ever since his Fall, Amenadiel has been a character with little development. Over the final two episodes though, we’ve been given a glimpse of the strong, confident powerhouse celestial we were introduced to in Season One. More than that, his actions to save Dr. Linda, actions that called forth the celestial power he’d thought lost hint at a more powerful arc going into year three.

Lucifer with his light saber…errr Flaming Sword.

Killing Chet—albeit accidentally—puts Charlotte smack dab into Chloe’s homicide detective crosshairs. When Lucifer finds out that his mother’s powers are indeed returning, he realizes the danger humanity is in; in the simplest of terms, Charlotte’s a ticking nuclear bomb that, if ignited, will wipe a lot of people off the map. Now that Amenadiel has re-evaluated Charlotte’s motivations, his refusal to grant her access to Heaven is set. She wants vengeance on God for banishing her and will stop at nothing to have that. Even Dr. Linda is caught in the crossfire as Charlotte tortures the truth from her, that Lucifer never had any intention of returning to Heaven. His petulance knows only that he wishes his parents to suffer but his siblings…

In a final standoff with the Flaming Sword now whole, Lucifer threatens to end Charlotte (though we know he’ll never go through with it). Instead, he appeals to her motherly instincts, reminding her that, should she try to take vengeance on Heaven, there would be War. And war always has casualties. Charlotte has always been somewhat a fish out of water, unconcerned with the fates of humans but I have never doubted the love she so often talks about in regards to her children. Lucifer’s warning makes her see the light, so to speak, and that revenge would only cause her more pain as she’d be forced to watch her children kill one another. Instead, she’s given a chance to start anew. Using the Flaming Sword, Lucifer cuts a hole in reality itself, exposing an aspect of Nothing, one that Charlotte can enter and create her own world. Though she will never see her children again, the mother in her takes the opportunity to start anew, knowing that her family, dysfunctional as it may be, will be safe. As her essence is pulled into that blackened Void, Lucifer tosses two parts of the Flaming Sword—the Blade of Death and the Medallion of Life—both integral in the creation of new worlds.

Lucifer finds himself in the desert and with wings.

A major theme of the episode was moving forward. It’s a statement Lucifer mentions on more than one occasion and his convictions on that concept is integral in Charlotte choosing to create her own world than upset the Heavenly balance. More to the point, the idea of moving forward sparks Lucifer to do the one thing he’s yet to truly do: show Chloe the truth. Unfortunately, on his way to see her (after leaving a promising message of anticipation), Lucifer is conked on the head and dump in the desert of all places. Out in the middle of nowhere with his skin peeling from the beating of the sun, Lucifer stands to find the biggest surprise of all.

His wings, the wings that he burned last season, are back. And as brilliant as ever.

Post Script

It’s difficult to categorize this finale because, while some things were resolved, they pale in comparison to the question we’re left with. Considering he’s taken gun shots and other egregious injuries, who would be able to knock Lucifer out? Does him being KO’d mean that Chloe was around? How’s she going to react when she finds out that Lucifer has disappeared again? More to the point though, how the hell did he get his wings back? And while not quite as shocking—but close—Amenadiel was somehow able to rechannel his celestial powers. Powers that saved Dr. Linda’s life after being skewered by Charlotte. And speaking of Charlotte, despite being dead before the goddess took over her body, the original Charlotte Richards is back but with no memory of the past several months. But will that stick or will she remember snippets of her body’s time as meat suit to a goddess?

See, I told you, more questions than answers.

Finally, a thought on the future.

As fun and whimsical as it may be, if Lucifer wishes to be a more well-rounded show, Season 3 needs to bring in a true antagonist to match wits with Chloe and Lucifer. At the start of the season it seemed as if Charlotte would be that antagonist but after an up and down season, it’s obvious she was less antagonist and more a hurdle with family issues. While there are a ton of questions awaiting ups for Lucifer’s junior season, adding a big bad will strengthen a fun show whose deficiencies are more telling the longer the show goes on.

Darryl Jasper

From a young age Darryl embraced everything that was geek. His first true memory of the cinemas was seeing the line wrapped around the building for “The Empire Strikes Back”. The light sabers and the Force had him hooked. Though it remains his favorite sci-fi creation, Star Wars was only the beginning. Star Trek soon followed and his obsession with the various iterations of the Enterprise took him to an actual convention. Between these mega franchises, Darryl enjoyed all the geek cartoons of his era: Transformers, GI Joe, M.A.S.K. Bravestarr, Silverhawks, Voltron, and the like. An avid reader, it wasn’t long before his sci-fi and fantasy partiality in movies transferred to his reading. Star Trek was the beginning and in a strange twist, led him back to the novelized world of Star Wars. It has been non-stop geek since. Though comic books and action figures have all been a part of his menu, movies, television, and books remain his primary focus. Oh, and he’s a pretty avid gamer to boot (PS3).